Assad’s “sleight of hand”?

Famous Al Jazeera TV personality, Faisal al-Qassim, had posted on Twitter that Assad was "bedridden" but not in a coma.

Lebanese newspaper al-Mustaqbal reported that Assad was struck down by a "cerebral infarction" and was being treated as a hospital inpatient.

Asharq Al-Awsat reported that the past six years had taken their toll on Assad.

The regime dismissed the claims in a Facebook post claiming that Assad was in “excellent health and carrying out his functions quite naturally,” a statement that no one but his supporters believed to be the truth

The discussion gained momentum when Kremlin insiders also told journalists that Assad was "exhausted" from the “psychological pressure” of the “savage war”, a war they failed to mention he has been waging against his own people since 2011.

Seeing as how Russia is Assad’s strongest ally, speculators found it easier to believe that the Russian words were much closer to the truth.

In a move that surprised none of them, the regime issued vehement denials calling the speculations "lies" and "rumors" that would only provoke "derision".

Again, the question begs to be asked: “Derision of who?”

It would be easy to quash the rumors and disprove the lies. After all, Assad is not camera shy, and all he would have to do is make one of those public speeches he loves to give to foreign journalists while entertaining them at the presidential palace at his personal invitation.

During an interview with The Sunday Times, just a few months ago, he laughed after being asked by one of them if he sleeps at night with all the children being killed in Aleppo and other parts of Syria.

“I know the meaning of that question,” he said with a smile. “I sleep regular, I sleep and work and eat normal and do sports.”

But there was nothing normal about his appearance in a 36-second video posted in an article published on Tuesday by the regime news agency SANA about a recent meeting held in Damascus with Belgian figures. 

For one thing, the voice of the narcissistic president, who loves to hear himself speak, was not heard as the video was posted without sound.

In addition, the left arm of Assad, who uses his hands often when he speaks, was noticeably still and awkwardly immobile.

Also the man he was speaking to appears to be staring at his immobile left hand as if expecting it to respond, which it never did, unless Assad’s sleight of hand has been perfected far beyond his usual forms of trickery and deceit.

If the video was intended by the regime to quash the rumors and calm the fears of those supporters who consistently put Assad the former, as well as Assad the latter, on a level equivalent to a god in human form, it did not.

Actually, the video raises more questions than it answers. If the rumors of Assad’s health are going to be squelched, his fawning junta is going to have to come up with something better than that.